The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Thursday 27th November, 2014 Great Hall of Ceremonies 16:30‐17:00 Opening Addresses: Professor Theodoros Fortsakis, Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Professor Liana Sakelliou‐Schultz, Chair of the Faculty of English Language and Literature, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” New Interpretations of Langston Hughes Using the Langston Hughes Papers Chair: Lisa Honaker, Stockton College Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University “Langston Hughes: A Life in Letters” 17:00‐18:30 Christa Fratantoro, Stockton College “Langston Hughes and Noel Sullivan: An Epistolary Friendship” David Roessel, with Edward Horan and Jade Fleming, Stockton College “ ‘Seven People Dancing’: An Introduction and Performance of an Unpublished Story by Langston Hughes” From the De‐centered Subject to the Non‐human and Simulated Self in Experimental Literary and Artistic Practice Chair: Tatiani Rapatzikou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Stamatina Dimakopoulou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Singular, Close, Distant: Varieties of Human Experience in Hannah Weiner” Theodoros Chiotis, University of Oxford “Plate Tectonics: New Textualities and Emerging Subjectivities in the Non‐human Age” Tatiani Rapatzikou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “A Book Poem without a Text and the Reading Subject in Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse’s Between Page and Screen” Great Hall of Ceremonies Keynote Address Stathis Gourgouris, Columbia University “Three Tropes of Human Animality: Psychē, Paideia, Philia” Chair: Theodora Tsimpouki, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens 18:45‐19:45 20:15 – 22:30 Reception dinner The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Friday 28th November, 2014 Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Human Fictions Chair: Stamatina Dimakopoulou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens James P. Savchuk, Pierpont Community & Technical College, Fairmont “It Came from Within the Same: Atomic TV in the Glow of Posthuman Fallout” 9:30‐11:10 The Ethnic Scene: Writing the Self, Writing the Border Chair: Efterpi Mitsi, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Makrina Chrisopoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “A Pequot Voice Affirming Survival: The Autobiography of William Apess” Sophia Emmanouilidou, Technological Institute of Education of the Ionian Islands “Memorial Mediations of Spatial Transition and Chicano Self‐Identity: The Case of Ernesto Galarza’s Autobiography Barrio Boy (1971)” Agnieszka Kaczmarek, University of Applied Sciences in Nysa “The Right to Live a Normal Life Denied: the Culture of Violence along the US‐Mexican Border” Hande Gurses, Yildiz Technical University “Tracing the I: An Analysis of Contemporary Approaches on Autobiography” 11:15‐11:45 Coffee Break Giannis Stamatellos, American College of Greece (Deree) “Virtus Homines Digitalis: A Virtue Ethics Approach to Digital Citizenship and the Question of Information Privacy” Mariusz Marszalski, University of Wrocław “Explorations of Post‐humanity in Dan Simmons’s Speculative Fiction, The Hyperion Cantos” Eleni Filippachi, Independent Scholar “Fellows in Mortality? Imagination, Empathy and Alien Forms of Life Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” 11:45‐12:45 Keynote Lecture Christopher Bigsby, University of East Anglia “Arthur Miller and Human Rights” Chair: Konstantinos Blatanis, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” 13:00‐14:40 14:40‐16:00 16:00‐17:40 Human Ruins, Posthuman Turns Chair: Mina Karavanta, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Nathan Snaza, University of Richmond “Departments of Language” Julietta Singh, University of Richmond “Posthumanitarian Fictions” Georgia Axiotou, Koç University “The Human Other En Route” Mina Karavanta, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Towards an ‘Autopoetics’ of the Common” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Human Polemics Chair: Sissy Velissariou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Jonathan Gross, DePaul University “The Art of Political Protest: Student Participation in Politics at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, or Fiscal Austerity and Humanist Education” Maria Pyrgerou, Independent Scholar “Neo‐liberal Politics—Precarious Lives: Corporatism against Humanity” John Nelson, United States Military Academy, West Point “ ‘Grim‐visag'd war hath smoothed his wrinkled front’: the Rhetoric of War and the Erasure of the Human” Murad Mukhles, Salahaddin University, Erbil, “The Responsibility to Protect: Call for Peace or Humanitarian War to Save Civilians?” Lunch Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” From the Hybrid and Cyborg Body to the Post‐Human through Performance Art Chair: Mariza Tzouni, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Mariza Tzouni, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Sculpting the Body: Re‐defining the Body through Its Relation to Beauty and Pain in Marina Abramović’s, and Orlan’s Performance Art” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Re‐Thinking the Human through Experimental Print Narratives Chair: Lizzy Pournara, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Lizzy Pournara, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Redefining Humanities through a Redefinition of Reading Habits” Vassilis Delioglanis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Literary (Re)Configurations of Human and Textual Bodies” Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thomas Mantzaris, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Fashion Polymerizations: Bodies Clad in Techno‐fabrics” “Marking the Visual: Human Traces in the Print Book” The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Aikaterini Delikonstantinidou, Aristolte Univeristy of Thessaloniki “Humans Remembered/Cyborgs Performed: Subject(ions), Abject(ions), Object(ions) in Cyborgean Theatrical Experiments” Dimitra Gkotosopoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Hi‐Teching Body and Mind in Multi‐Media Theatre: Perceptions of Human Life and Communication in a Technological Reality” 17:45‐19:25 Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Performing the Human Chair: Mary Koutsoudaki, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Katerina Liontou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Never Let Me Go: Βiological Hybridity and the Reconfiguration of the Cartesian Liberal Subject” Maria‐Sabina Draga Alexandru, University of Bucharest “Posthuman Agency: The Rebellious Clone in Cloud Atlas” Sorina Chiper, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University “Immortality, Morality and More: Of Stelarc’s Skin and Technology‐
Mingled Bodies” Christina Dokou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Perfection, Perception, and Performativity: Super versus Human in Andy Kaufman’s All My Friends Are Superheroes” The Visual and the Biopolitical Chair: William Schultz, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Piya Pal‐Lapinski, Bowling Green State University “Inhuman Style: Fashion, Decadence and Fascism in Luchino Visconti’s The Damned” Angeliki Tseti, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Markings on the Body: Postmemory and the Forgotten Women of the Armenian Genocide in Suzanne Khardalian's Grandma's Tattoos” Joseph Michael Gratale, The American College of Thessaloniki “Visual Representations of the Biopolitical” Melenia Arouh, American College of Greece (Deree) “Schindler’s List Revisited: A Case for its Humanistic Value” The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Saturday 29th November, 2014 Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” The Role of Narrative in Human Health, Well‐Being and Wholeness Chair: Catherine Rogers, Columbia University Vinia Dakari, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “The TEDtalk Cure: Politics and Aesthetics of Cancer Narratives on a Global Stage” 9:30‐11:10 Evangelia Lazaris, Columbia University “Narrative as a Means to Regain ‘Full Human Status’ ” Athina Dragkou, Royal Holloway University of London “Project Odysseies/Thessaloniki: Personal Transformation in Performance, a Case Study” Catherine Rogers, Columbia University “Literary Practice as High‐Stakes Action: Narrative Medicine in the School of English” 11:15‐11:45 Radicalizing the Social: The Human Again Chair: Christina Dokou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Dana Gage, DOCCS “Voices from Within” Spiros Gangas, American College of Greece (Deree) “Radical Reformism in Human Rights Narratives: The Capabilities Approach” Andreas Lazaris, University of California, Berkeley “ ‘Capacity,’ Citizenship, and Dementia: Assessing the Social Role and Civic Rights of the Aging and Cognitively Impaired” Julia Fiedorczuk, Warsaw University “Moving beyond the Nature/Culture Dichotomy in Adam Dickinson's The Polymers” Coffee Break Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” 11:45‐12:45 Keynote Lecture Greg Zacharias, Creighton University “Henry James and the Problem of the Liberal Hero” Chair: Anna Despotopoulou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” 13:00‐14:40 Human Quests, Human Trails: Explorations of the Human in Travel and Postcolonial Literature Chair: Vassiliki Markidou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Anna Despotopoulou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “ ‘In the Permanent Way of Civilization’: Flora Annie Steel and the Railway in India” Lydia Efthymia Roupakia, International Hellenic University “On Belief, Belonging and Boundaries: Monica Ali’s Brick Lane and the Question of Ethics” Aleksandra Tryniecka, Marie Curie‐Skłodowska University “Reconfigurations of the Victorian Women in Neo‐Victorian fiction” Dimitris Kassis, Independent Scholar “Race and Otherness in Sir John Barrow’s A Visit to Iceland by Way of Tronyem in the ‘Flower of Yarrow’ ” 14:40‐16:00 LUNCH 16:00‐17:30 Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Haunting Humanism: Tracing the Human in the Elizabethan Age Chair: Maro Germanou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Marina Maropoulou, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Human Tears in Shakespeare’s Richard II” Efterpi Mitsi, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Killing the Humanist in Marlowe’s Massacre at Paris” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Antihumanism, Post‐Humanism, New Humanism: Theoretical Reconfigurations of the Human Chair: Sean Homer, The American University in Bulgaria Ruth Parkin – Gounelas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Regarding Animals Regarding Humans” Sean Homer, The American University in Bulgaria “The Persistence of Antihumanism” Effie Yiannopoulou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “War on the Human in Black British Utopias” Erica Sheen, University of York “Strange Kinship: towards an Anim‐anti‐humanities” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Human Rights on the American Stage Chair: Zoe Detsi‐Diamanti, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Zoe Detsi‐Diamanti, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Free Labor, (Sub)Human Identity, and “Inalienable Rights”: Henry Grimm’s The Chinese Must Go (1879) Elena Delliou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Human Rights and Runaway Brides in Charles Mee’s Big Love (2000)” The War on the Human: Human as Right, Human as Limit and the Task of the Humanities Konstantinos Blatanis, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens “Reclaiming the Right to a Limitless Human Body on Stage: Naomi Wallace’s The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (1998)” Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Amphitheater “Alkis Argyriadis” Posthuman Technē Chair: Tatiani Rapatzikou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Domna Pastourmatzi, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki “Shed No Tears, Feel the Ecstasy: Misanthropic Sentiments in Western Posthuman Technoculture” Aristi Trendel, Université du Maine “The Posthuman in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis” Paschalia Mitskidou, Independent Scholar “Glimpses of the Posthuman Condition in Jorge Luis Borges’s ‘The Circular Ruins’ ” Demetrios P. Tryphonopoulos, University of New Brunswick “‘ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ᾽ ὅσ᾽ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ’: The Task of the Humanities in the Early/Print 20th‐ and the Early/Electronic 21st‐
Centuries” Human Rights in Writing Chair: Nic Panogopoulos, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Nikica Mihaljević, University of Split “Rethinking Immigration, Human Rights, and Otherness in some Italian Immigrant Narratives” Nikoletta Papadopoulou, University of Cyprus “The Captive and the Migrant: Re‐Configuring Strategies of Containment in the State of Exception” Nikoletta Pikramenou, University of Uppsala “Intersex People and Human Rights: Should There Be Two Genders?” Evaggelia Kalerante, University of Western Macedonia “Children’s Rights Dialectics: The Ideological Texture of Politics and Democratic Rights” 17:40‐19:20 Amphitheater “Ioannis Drakopoulos” Keynote Lecture Maria Margaroni, University of Cyprus “The ‘War on Inhabitancy’ and Sylvie‐Courtine Denamy’s Homelove” Chair: Mina Karavanta, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens 19:30‐20:30 20:45 Closing Remarks